A compound having a heavy hydrogen (deuterium and tritium) is said to be useful in various purposes. For example, a deuterated compound is very useful in elucidation of reaction mechanism and substance metabolism and used widely as a labeled compound. Said compound is also known to be useful as drugs, pesticides, organic EL materials, and the like due to change in stability and property of the compound itself by isotope effect thereof. A compound having tritium is also said to be useful as a labeled compound in animal tests and the like to survey absorption, distribution, concentration in blood, excretion, metabolism and the like of drugs, etc. Therefore, research on a compound having a heavy hydrogen (deuterium and tritium) has been recently increasing also in these fields.
Various methods for obtaining these deuterated compounds have conventionally been used. Among these methods, as a method for deuterating a compound having an aromatic ring or a heterocyclic ring, the present inventors developed a method for reacting a compound having an aromatic ring with heavy water in the presence of activated platinum carbon, and a method for reacting a compound having a heterocyclic ring with heavy water in the presence of activated palladium carbon or platinum carbon (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 1: International Publication No. W02004/011400
Patent Document 2: International Publication No. W02004/046066